Fewer babies born on Halloween

Most doctors will tell you that women can’t influence the timing of their babies’ births, but a new study out of Yale proves that this long-held belief might be wrong.

Dr. Rebecca Levy of the Yale School of Public Health found that fewer babies are born on Halloween and she thinks Halloween’s associations with death, evil and skeletons might subconsciously put women off giving birth.

“The study raises the possibility that the assumption underlying the term ‘spontaneous birth’, namely, that births are outside the control of pregnant women, is erroneous,” Dr. Levy told New Scientist magazine.

Levy and her team looked at records for all U.S. births taking place in the week before and after Valentine’s Day and Halloween between 1996 and 2006. They found that on Valentine’s Day there is an average 5 percent increase in births when compared to other days during the week before or the week after (3.6 increase for natural, non-induced births and 12.1 percent for c-sections). On Halloween, there was on average an 11.3% decrease when compared to the days in the week before and after (5.3 percent decrease for for natural, non-induced births, and 16.9 percent drop for Caesareans).

“The symbols of Valentine’s Day, such as cherubs, may provide a heightened sense of childbirth’s propitiousness. … However, the symbols of Halloween, such as skeletons, are not only a contrast to the propitiousness of childbirth, they may be perceived as a threat to it,” the study authors wrote.